Kola Peninsula 1953

[acbennett3]

Returning to our story - we left w/the last remaining B-36 of one of the Northern flights fleeing a pursuing Mig-15. During the diving battle the B-36 successfully shot down the Mig denying him a clean sweep of the flight. Below is the moment of destruction for the Mig.

[acbennett3]

The 2 fighter sweep flights continue to gobble up individual Migs. Eventually the Fighter escorts for one of the B-36 flights coming from the west over Sweden/Finalnd encounters Migs. Ultimately it ends w/1 F-84 shotdown, but both Migs destroyed.

[acbennett3]

In the north it seems the luck is about to run out for the remaining member of the first flight of B-36's. The closing Fighter Escorts detect 1 Mig approaching from the southwest and turn to attack. But then a new bogey appears north of the remaining B-36. Two of the fighter escorts continue pursuing the first bogey, while the other two turn and light their afterburners to help the solo B-36. Will they make it this time? In the meantime the B-36 turns away and goes for the deck.

[acbennett3]

The B-36 dives with the Mig following. Meanwhile one of the F-84's is just beginning to enter firing range of the Mig. The Mig and B-36 exchange fire and the Mig blows up! I thought the B-36 was going to be named "Lucky" after this, but a few seconds later it also went down probably due to damage from the Mig's shot. Below is the image of them exchanging fire.

[acbennett3]

More bogeys begin to be detected over the northern approach and border of Norway and the USSR. Dogfights start in multiple locations. Multiple F-84's attacking single Migs gives the US the advantage, but F-84s continue to be shot down also. Who will run out of fighters/ammo/fuel first? I purposely resist turning on God mode to see what's going on with the Soviets.

Soon multiple Migs are detected in the southern part of the attack run. Now it’s the RNoAF's F-84s turn to start engaging - before the Migs can close the following 98th B-36 flights.

[acbennett3]

Starting to get worried now. While no more Migs appear over the water north of Kola, multiple Migs are starting to appear up and down the border in front of the western bomber run now over Finalnd. In the below image is "Super Mig". He shot down 3 F-84's in a single flight and the 4th F-84 (upper left) had to RTB because it was Winchester. Then the Mig turned southeast and began threatening a B-36 flight. I had to vector two groups of fighters to attempt to stop him.

[acbennett3]

The northern group gets in range first and takes its best shot and… misses and goes Winchester. What's going on here? In the below image the 2 US F-84's are turning back to base and the 5 RNoAF are coming up to take their turn.

[acbennett3]

At this point the tally is:
NATO 15 F-84s/4 B-36s
USSR 26 Mig-15s

Will Super Mig live?
Will the NATO fighters last or run out of ammo/fuel?
Will the Soviets run out of fighters?
How many B-36's will make it over their targets?
Will anyone make it home for another natural (not artificial) sunrise?

Actually pretty exciting - and since I am doing an AAR it makes me play this over multiple nights of play. I spend my time at work wondering what will happen next.

[Fishbed]

I see AI fighters keep on being launched in the combat piecemeal, one per one, like in any Harpoon iteration. Is that completely hard coded, or are there ways (using the editor?) to make the AI player set up stronger fighter/strike groups?

[acbennett3]

This is my first shot at the editor/event engine so I can't answer yet - maybe one of the Devs can chime in.
The other improvement would be to 'program' the Migs to breakoff once they identified a contact as a fighter and engage only bombers.
Again, haven't explored the event engine enough to know if possible.

If I was playing the Soviet side I would probably do 2-4 A/C flights and spread the altitude to make them tougher to concentrate against and overwhelm. I would also light my afterburner and ignore the fighters and go for the bombers - which was the Soviet/NK doctrine over Korea. Add those 2 tweaks to the AI and this battle would look very different.

Once the Migs get to the bombers it gets ugly - as evidenced by my mistake up North.

[Dimitris]

ORIGINAL: Fishbed
I see AI fighters keep on being launched in the combat piecemeal, one per one, like in any Harpoon iteration. Is that completely hard coded, or are there ways (using the editor?) to make the AI player set up stronger fighter/strike groups?

The other side of this coin, of course, is: "Why are my fighters taking time to form up while there is an enemy out there coming at us! Screw form ups and whatnot, I want my fighters out there throwing everything they have at the bad guys!"

[Fishbed]

Yes I know, point taken, but I guess Kola peninsula airstrips are probably able to accommodate at least 2 MiG-15 on the tarmac at once

Got to admit a backfire strike looks much less threatening if planes got sent one by one, don't you think? It all depends on the context, but I'd like to know what tools can be used to make it matter (or if the AI is able to proceed with such situations accordingly and make the right decision). Thanks!

[Dimitris]

Without having access to the scenario, I would guess this was a case of the fighters being made available piecemeal rather than the runways bottling them up.

In offensive missions you can certainly have the attack group form up during take off and commit all at once rather the drip-dropping.

[Cap Mandrake]

acb;

Are you largely directing the USAF fighters or letting ENIAC-I do that?

[acbennett3]

I am actually playing the US side. I am focusing on automating the Soviet side first since it is easier. When I post the first version of this scenario in a few days it will initially only be playable from the US side (although you will be able to open it in the editor and play either/both sides).

After I finish this AAR I am going to go back and see if I can make the Soviet automation a little more effective - concentration of force instead of piecemeal and better target selection/focus on the bombers.

I may try to automate the US side, or wait. I also want to take this template scenario and start moving forward in time with later weapon systems (B-47/B-58/B-52 and Mig-17/19/21/Su Interceptors and early SAM sites and AAMs).

I have always wanted to play/simulate this period and type of warfare and it was an unexpected/pleasant surprise that CMNAO provides this ability.

[acbennett3]

In the end "Super Mig" was shot down by a gang of Norwegians in their F-84s. I suspect he was Winchester based on his shooting down 3-4 F-84s and then disengaging - but because of his course he had to be addressed.

The bombers were now closing on the first group of targets. Still one more sticky situation came up before the first bombs were dropped. Two Migs appeared in front of one of the flights from the 98th Bombardment Squadron. Based on previous experience up north I took drastic action and turned the flight almost 180 degrees around to allow the RNoAF escorts to pass by and interpose themselves and prevent a re-occurrence of what happened up north. The Migs were eventually destroyed after a turning dogfight and the bombers resumed course.

[acbennett3]

The bombers coming from the North go feet dry and one of the B-36's splits off its flight to attack a coastal military base. I settled on assigning 1 bomber per military target/installation. The bomber then drops both its Mark-18 Strategic bombs on a single target to increase the odds of destruction even if one of the bombs malfunctions (saw that in my first test earlier). The Mark-18 also has a hi-hi-hi profile meaning the B-36 can drop and remain at hi altitude/40k ft the entire run greatly increasing its chance of surviving the blast. My earlier test I used a hi-lo-hi atomic bomb and ended up having all the bombers being destroyed from the blast. The below image is right after the bombs detonation on the base, and the B-36 is RTB/Winchester now starting to head back to base. The other 2 bombers from the flight are continuing on to the south towards the Murmansk area.

[acbennett3]

Off to the west the first bombers cross the Soviet border and drop their bombs on a pair of Soviet bases near the border. The first blast effect is dissipating and you can see the bomber is in the blast area but because of its altitude survived.
There are also 2 other flights continuing on to their targets, with the northern one trying to navigate between the 2 blasts.

[acbennett3]

Back up North the remaining B-36s from the first flight arrive over the Murmansk military complex and almost simultaneously drop their bombs. In the image the first pair of bombs have detonated and you can barely make out the other 2 bombs still descending over the Severomorsk (thick red line in the top left corner of the base red square).

[acbennett3]

All 4 bombs dropped in close proximity destroy the 2 initial targets and then the one to the North. The Murmansk military complex has been destroyed. The bombers are engulfed in the blast area but once again due to being at 40k feet survive.